Badr rejects Gallup survey

LAHORE – PPP Secretary General Jehangir Badr on Thursday termed the Gallup analysis biased and flawed in “favour” of a particular party, saying all such predictions made in the past proved wrong after the elections.

“History is testimony to the fact that the electorate never voted in accordance with the predictions made in the various surveys conducted during 1970, 1988,1990 and 1993 elections”, he remarked in a statement issued from Bilawal House Lahore. To substantiate his point, he has pointed out that the Gallup Survey in 1993 had predicted that 45 per cent electorates would vote for Nawaz Sharif and 15 per cent to Benazir Bhutto; but the elections results proved to the contrary as exactly 45 per cent voted for Mohtrama and only 15 per cent for Nawza Sharif.

He said that the PPP got the maximum number of votes in 2002 elections held during General Musharraf dictatorial rule despite the fact Shaheed Mohtrama Benazir Bhutto was in exile and Asif Ali Zardari was in Jail along with other party stalwarts including a large number of party workers. In 2008 elections, he added, the PPP emerged as the single largest party because it won more seats than any other political party in the country. He said those banking on these surveys would be disappointed bitterly like in the past.

“Their hallow claims and promises cannot hide their manipulation because the people are well informed and wise enough to differentiates who is sincere to their cause and who is not”, he further stated..

The PPP leader advised the leaders of different political parties and the public in general to study the book of Dr. Waseem who had portrayed how the tactics are used by the surveys outfits to favour a particular party through the process of framing questions and sections of people to be interviewed.